Power praises Downs' panel as they prepare for final
By Gerry Buckley
It was quite a weekend on a personal level for The Downs’ senior football manager Dermot Power, and he was jovially reminded of this when he spoke to members of the local media after his charges had put a shaky first half display behind them to ultimately ease past the challenge of Mullingar Shamrocks in the Flanagan Cup semi-final on Sunday afternoon in TEG Cusack Park.
Power joked at the outset: “When my daughter Lucy scored the winning point for Clonkill in the senior camogie final yesterday, I hugged (rival St Loman’s, Mullingar manager) Paddy Dowdall, as his daughter Megan had passed the ball to Lucy and I prayed that she wouldn’t miss!”
Moving on to football matters, he continued: “We expected Shamrocks to come with everything they had available. And they did. It didn’t come as a surprise. It’s a semi-final and you have to win them. There’s a huge prize there. We left some chances behind us in the first half where maybe we could have moved the ball more quickly, but our lads grew into the game in the second half. Luke’s (Loughlin) goal settled us. As long as we keep creating chances, the opportunities will come. We have a very good forward line.”
As usual, Loughlin top-scored, but Ian Martin chipped in with four points from play. In this regard, his manager opined: “Ian is a class player. He gives you everything, whether it’s the first round of a league or the county semi-final. You always get 100 per cent effort from him. He’s a fantastic lad.”
Injuries picked up by Joe Moran and sub Niall Mitchell were a source of concern to black and amber-clad fans. The winning bainisteoir reflected as follows: “We’ve a couple of injuries now. We’re talking with the physio and we'll see how things go over the next few days. It's a case of fingers crossed!”
The Downs’ strength-in-depth this year is impressive, and Power added: “The last 15/20 minutes are crucial and the players you bring on at that stage should not think that they are not good enough to have started. You need to have that strength in your squad, and the player who is coming on does not drop the level in the team. We have a number of those players. Also, we have great people behind the scenes in the club. So many lads give of their time and never look for anything.”
The Downs now face Coralstown/Kinnegad in the final, the favourites having won all their six games, while their opponents lost three round robin matches. Power was keen to dismiss this stat, concluding: “Personally, I’m not reading anything into that. Kinnegad is only a short distance down the road from us. We’ve every expectation that they are going to bring the kitchen sink with them for the county final. We’ll work on what we believe we need to do over the next fortnight.”
Mullingar Shamrocks’ manager Micheál Burke was understandably disappointed at his troops’ exit, but he was still able to reflect on a progressive year overall for the Springfield-based club.
At the outset, he stated: “All the talk all week was that The Downs were going to win this well, but our intention was to get to the county final. We absolutely believed in ourselves and after 30 minutes we were in a good position, a point up when we came back out for the second half. Unfortunately, The Downs got a run on us and that can happen in a game. It can then go away from you very quickly, and that happened today.
"But I’m massively proud of our lads, the work they put in all year. We have been badly hit with injuries and even today we lost Marc Eivers early on, while Daragh Daly had a vomiting bug this morning but battled through for 35 minutes. So we ended up without two massive players after 35 minutes, but the boys kept at it and at it.”
He continued: “Luke Loughlin’s goal was crucial. We had the ball the far end of the ground and could have got a free, and then they move the ball the length of the pitch and get a goal. They are the small margins. We were struggling around the middle then with Daragh (Daly) gone, and Donnacha Maguire had got a belt as well. But you have to admire The Downs as Johnny Lynam and others caught serious ball. They are a very, very strong team.”
Burke concluded in a positive manner: “The lads are hurting, but we have to use that and drive on again. It’s a step on from where we were last year. This club is only going one way that’s back up. We’ll keep pushing on. We have brought in young lads this year, and next year we have another batch of minors. The older lads have set the standard for them.”